Barks and Glances
Fic collab by @kkruml, @smoakingwaffles and @whiskynottea
Hey guys, @whiskynottea Pongo here, bringing you the fourth chapter of Barks and Glances! Woof (enjoy)!
Previously Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
poster by @smoakingwaffles
Chapter 4. A home for four (by @whiskynottea)
(Ahhh let me stretch for a while… I've spent the last thirty minutes sitting by the window with my beautiful Perdita, looking at the passers-by. But a dog has to move once in a while, you know.
Okay, I’m ready to start now.)
Hey guys! It’s Pongo again!
Did you miss me?
Oh, come on, confess it. You did miss me.
It’s okay, you know, because I missed you, too!
I have so many news to share with you, that you better sink into a couch and make yourself a cuppa. Is this what you humans call it? I think so.
Coffee, tea, or a whisky - drink whatever you like. I would personally go with milk, in case you have some to spare.
Ready?
Okay, let me take this from the very beginning…
After my ingenious idea to drag Jamie to the park earlier than usual so he would meet Claire, these two goobers couldn’t take their eyes off each other.
And let me tell you all it took me was a minute (okay maybe two) to charm my beautiful Perdita. She couldn’t resist to this adorable, wet, chocolate lab, you see.
Anyway.
Jamie brought Claire and Perdy back to our house - which was a world’s first - and he made Claire tea while she waited for her clothes to dry. The clothes never dried, however, so both lasses left our place with the promise to meet again. Maybe my charm - and Jamie’s - played a role on this decision as well, but the clothes were the perfect excuse.
And now, between you and me, I have to admit that I hadn’t thought of getting them all wet in the pond beforehand. But it turned out pretty well, don’t you think?
Jamie started whistling the day he met Claire. I’ve never heard such a sound before, but his tuneless, poor imitation of a birdsong didn’t seem to dishearten him. Next thing, he got obsessed with his phone. He never let it far from his gaze and he texted like a maniac. As a result, he had banged his toes onto every furniture in our house, waking me up more than once with his boisterous shouts and swears. The man has a loud voice! The same voice, however, transformed into a smooth, deep and low one when Jamie was on the phone with Claire. It was the first time I heard him murmuring sweet nothings to the wee machine, with his cheeks and neck blooming red.
My ginger human was very much in love with Perdy’s curly one, and luckily the Sassenach, as he called her, returned his feelings.
After that first day, I met my beautiful blondie every day at the park. Our walk schedule became irregular after meeting them, and if it wasn’t for Perdy I would protest, barking loudly to wake everybody up when Jamie woke me up at six o’clock in the morning to go for a walk.
More than once.
Claire and Perdy, you see, didn’t have standard hours for their walks because of Claire’s shifts and we - lovesick puppies as we were - just followed their schedule.
It took approximately one month of sleepy walks for Jamie to realize that Claire was the human of his life and that there was no reason to wait anymore. The truth was loud and clear from the very beginning; she was his and he was hers. So he decided to put a collar on her. Humans don’t wear their collars on the neck - the choose tiny ones and they wear them on their fingers. They are strange creatures, indeed.
In front of the same pond I bound them together that first day, Jamie proposed to her. Claire said yes, jumping on him and taking him off guard, only to end up in the pond once again. This time though, they were kissing.
And kissing.
And kissing.
And I honestly thought we would never go home.
But, eventually, they stopped.
So we had a wedding.
The bride was the most beautiful lass I’ve ever seen. Her golden fur was shining under the sun, each hair glittering like it was made from little diamonds and -
Wait, what? You’re more interested in Claire?
Perdy was wonderful but since you insist… Claire looked nice, too. Okay, I’m lying. You got me!
Claire was captivating.
She wore a simple white dress and had tiny flowers pinned in her hair. Don’t ask me for more details, I’m just a dog, I don’t care about fashion. But I think it was a miracle that Jamie’s eyes didn’t pop out and fall on the floor, being so wide open when he first saw her. One would imagine that he was staring at a gigantic stake or a bucket of pasta, but no. It was just Claire.
At this moment I thought that Claire might be a fairy - and Jamie was enchanted by her. Judging from the foolish way he smiled as she was coming closer, he was absolutely fine with it.
And like this, two lonely bachelors became two family men - okay a man and a dog - starting their new lives.
Everything changed from the moment Perdy and Claire moved to our house.
Remember what I told you about Jamie’s paints and drawings, strewn all around our living room? Well, you can forget that now. Jamie has moved all his stuff in the attic, where he spends almost all day, preparing for his exhibition. With every passing day, Jamie becomes even more anxious about it. The drumming of his fingers against his thigh almost never stops, unless Claire takes his fingers in hers and kisses him softly. She does her magic then, I’m sure, because Jamie smiles again, looking peaceful and relaxed. With renewed vigor, he heads back to the attic.
This is exactly where he is right now.
Claire came back home about an hour ago and now I can hear her in the kitchen, humming along with the cabinets’ opening and closing, as she prepares tea. She is filling the kettle with water and now… yes. She’s going to the attic to bring Jamie down. Good, because we always get to play when it’s tea time!
Apart from the days when he comes. He calls Jamie’s name with an accent similar to Claire’s, but his voice is slimy, dripping and disgusting.
The Duke of Sandringham.
He has an air of superiority around him, wearing his expensive clothes and having his own driver waiting outside our house for as long as each visit lasts. He walks around our small house, fidgeting with our things and all I want to do is to bark his ears off until he vanishes completely from our lives. But I try my best and keep myself under control. Being a good boy is so hard.
The Duke always comes around tea time, orders Claire to make his tea as if she’s working for him, and once the tea is ready he goes straight up to the attic to find Jamie. They close the door and he values Jamie’s art while Claire digs a trail on the carpet with her feet, waiting. I know she’d swear if she could, but Jamie asked from all of us to be patient. He says the Duke is just weird.
I think he is an arsehole.
There is something evil in this man, and I can see it clearly when Jamie accompanies him downstairs after they’ve finished the inspection. He’s usually praising Jamie for his masterful, inspiring artwork as he descends the stairs, talking about a fabulous exhibition to come, but he has a strange glint in his eye that I don’t like. I can sense that he’s hiding the truth and Perdy agrees with me. Women have better intuition anyway, and I trust her. And I’m sure that Claire hates the way the Duke kisses her hand every time before heading to the door.
But Jamie… Oh, Jamie lives in a parallel universe. He says the Duke might be eccentric but is his agent and that he trusts him. Jamie insists that these visits are necessary, to make sure that the exhibition will be successful. And while he says all that, his fingers keep drumming against his thigh, his lips just a thin line.
My ginger is anxious and scared. He is more afraid than what he shows. One night that I heard noises coming from the attic, I went there to find Jamie sitting in the darkness, in the corner of the room. In my rush to ran towards him, I bumped head-first onto a painting and felt the fresh paint coloring my nose. That was disgusting, I’m telling you! Whining, I finally reached Jamie and lay next to him and with my head on his lap. I was sleepy, but I couldn't leave my human alone. We stayed awake until the first morning light, when Claire came back home and took us to bed.
Claire had her hair in a messy bun that day. Now, as she’s coming back into the living room, her curls fly free all around her face, framing her beautiful smile. She comes towards us, patting my head and scratching Perdy’s ear and I let a content woof as I snuggle closer to Perdita.
Ahh, love. It feels so good.
“Jamie, tea will be ready in five minutes!” Claire is saying as she moves up the stairs, before she opens the attic door gently. “Love?”
“Aye, Sassenach. I’m coming.” As Claire turns to leave, a stray sun beam colors her brown hair a beautiful auburn. “Mo nighean donn,” Jamie whispers, and his voice is barely audible, (but I’m a dog and as you know I can hear much better than you). Jamie always sees colors around him, waiting to be touched by his brushes, but nothing entrances him more than Claire. He raises from his stool and goes to meet her at the door, taking her in his arms while he kisses her lips.
I don’t think we’ll have tea any time soon.
“Jamie,” she says softly. “The kettle…”
“The kettle can wait, Sassenach. Everything else can wait.”
The attic’s door closes softly, hiding them from us and the world.
I don’t hear any nervous drumming of fingers behind that door anymore. All I can hear is two drumming hearts, and that makes me feel that everything is going to be alright.